The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 08 eBook

Thus in England as in France, though by widely differing
chances, the kingly power had triumphed over feudalism.
Monarchs began to come into direct contact, not always
pleasant, with the entire mass of their subjects,
the “third estate,” the common people.

RISE OF SPANISH POWER

Spain also was to pass through a similar experience.
Indeed, one of the most striking facts of this age
of the Renaissance is the swift and spectacular rise
of Spain from a land of feebleness and internal strife
into the most powerful kingdom of Europe. We have
seen the Spanish peninsula in previous ages the seat
of endless strife between Saracens and Christians.
Gradually the Moors had been driven back, and the little
independent Christian states had been united by the
fortunes of war and marriage into three—­Portugal
on the Atlantic coast, Castile occupying the larger
part of the mainland, and Aragon, a maritime kingdom,
less extensive in Spain, but extending its sovereignty
over many of the Mediterranean isles, over Sicily
and southern Italy. In 1469 Isabella, heiress
of Castile, and Ferdinand, heir of Aragon, were wedded;
and soon afterward their countries were united under
their joint rule. The combined strength of both
was then devoted to a long religious war against the
Moors. Granada, the last and most famous of the
Moorish capitals and strongholds, was finally captured
in 1492.[13] The followers of Mahomet were driven
out of Western Europe during the same period that,
under Turkish leadership, they had at last won Constantinople
in the East.

The whole Spanish peninsula with the exception of
Portugal was thus united under Ferdinand and Isabella,
greatest of the sovereigns of Spain. The ages
of battle with the Moors had bred a nation of cavaliers,
intensely loyal, passionately religious. They
were splendid fighters, but stern, hard-hearted, merciless
men. Isabella, “the Saint,” most holy
and pure-souled of women, herself introduced into
her country the terrible Inquisition.[14] Jews and
Moors were given little peace in life unless they
turned Christian. Heretics and relapsed converts
from the other faiths were burned to death. The
Queen declared she would approve all possible torture
to men’s bodies, when necessary in order to save
their souls.

If such were the women of Spain, what was to be expected
of the men? How could even Ferdinand, “the
Wise,” keep them employed now that there were
no longer Moors to fight against? Uprisings, rebellions,
began to threaten Spain with such desolation as England
had endured. But a higher Providence solved for
Ferdinand his impossible problem: the age of
maritime discovery began.[15]